ASDE-X

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Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X, or ASDE-X, is a runway-safety tool that enables air traffic controllers to detect potential runway conflicts by providing detailed coverage of movement on runways and taxiways. By collecting data from a variety of sources, ASDE-X is able to track vehicles and aircraft on airport surfaces and obtain identification information from aircraft transponders.

The data that ASDE-X uses comes from a surface-movement radar located on the air traffic control tower or remote tower, multilateration sensors, ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) sensors, the terminal automation system, and from aircraft transponders. By fusing the data from these sources, ASDE-X is able to determine the position and identification of aircraft and vehicles on the airport surfaces, as well as of aircraft flying within 5 miles (8 km) of the airport.

Controllers in the tower see this information presented as a color display of aircraft and vehicle positions overlaid on a map of the airport's runways/taxiways and approach corridors. The system essentially creates a continuously updated map of all airport-surface operations that controllers can use to spot potential collisions.

Consisting largely of commercial off-the-shelf products, ASDE-X was designed as a solution for the smaller of the top-tier airports, and is especially helpful to controllers at night or in bad weather when visibility is poor. The Federal Aviation Administration also plans to enhance ASDE-X with visual and audio alarms that will alert controllers to possible collisions.

The first ASDE-X was activated for operational use and testing at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in June 2003, and declared ready for national deployment in October 2003. In addition to Milwaukee, ASDE-X also is operational now at the T. F. Green Airport in Providence, Rhode Island; Orlando International Airport in Orlando, Florida; and the William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas.